28o Hounds 



of intestinal irritation. Epileptic seizures are de- 

 noted by sudden loss of consciousness, falling to the 

 ground, champing of the jaws, foaming at the mouth, 

 and other minor signs. The period of unconscious- 

 ness may be momentary, may persist for hours, 

 and in exceptional instances for several days. In 

 other cases, instead of loss of consciousness delirious 

 symptoms appear and the dog rushes wildly about, 

 barking and snapping at objects, leading the owner 

 to suppose that the animal is going mad — which 

 for the time being it is ; but such madness is totally 

 different from that terrible disease known as "rabies," 

 which, fortunately for both dog and man, has been 

 stamped out in Great Britain. When a dog is 

 affected with this delirious form of epilepsy it ought 

 to be immediately placed under restraint, otherwise 

 it is Uable to injure itself, and the excitement leads 

 to exhaustion. Moreover, if the fit occurs in the 

 street it leads the stupid and the ignorant to regard 

 the dog as affected with rabies, and suggestions are 

 offered, and occasionally put into execution, that it 

 is advisable to destroy the dog at once. It would 

 be better if those who made suggestions of this kind 

 were compelled to suffer in a corresponding manner, 

 and perhaps one would then hear less of mad dogs, 

 at anyrate in the British Isles. 



In the treatment of epilepsy the dog must be kept 

 absolutely quiet, then given a dose of purgative 



